Audi R8 Carbon Fiber Side Blades Heated Seats Back Up Camera Parking Sensors on 2040-cars

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Audi features Google Android infotainment system in Q8 Sport concept

Volvo isn't the only company working on a Google Android-based operating system. Apparently Audi has bestowed the Q8 Sport, revealed at the Geneva show, with an infotainment system based on Google's Android operating system, rather than a proprietary one. The company revealed the system at the Google I/O conference. The system is controlled via the Q8 Sport's touchscreen, and should function like a normal Audi infotainment system. However, this one comes with applications such as Google Play Music, Google Assistant, and Google Maps built-in. Audi also says that running an infotainment system on Android should make it easier for applications and updates to be developed for the automotive version, since it won't require developers to learn to code for a single car line's completely unique and different operating system. Unlike Volvo, though, Audi doesn't have a timeline for introducing Android infotainment systems. The Swedish company announced that its Android-based system will be in production cars within the next two years. Related Video:

Winterkorn vacates chairs on Audi, Truck & Bus boards

The last remaining vestiges of Martin Winterkorn's power within the Volkswagen Group are slowly melting away. The former chairman of the group's management board resigned as CEO nearly two months ago in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. He held onto other roles within the group, but one by one he's been vacating those as well. Last month Winterkorn resigned from his role at Porsche SE – Volkswagen's largest shareholder. Now the latest development comes from Bloomberg, which reports that Winterkorn has stepped down from his role as chairman of the supervisory board at Audi. Prior to his promotion to run the entire group, Winterkorn served as chief executive of the Audi division, and prior to his resignation served continued to serve as its board chairman. No date was given for his resignation from that capacity, nor any successor named at this point. Repeated requests for clarification from Audi have gone unanswered. In correspondence with Autoblog, however, spokespeople for VW's commercial vehicle operations confirmed that Winterkorn has also stepped down as the chairman of the board at Truck & Bus GmbH. The newly established division encompasses truck manufacturers Man and Scania. Winterkorn also served as chairman of Scania's board, but requests for confirmation of his departure from that role also went unanswered. The Swedish truck manufacturer, however, named Henrik Henriksson as its a new chief executive only a few days ago.

Audi inaugurates new R8 production line at Neckarsulm

Of all the factories which the Volkswagen Group operates around the world, the Audi plant in Neckarsulm may not be the very largest, but it is among the most diversified. That's where Audi builds versions of the A4, A5, A6, A8 and Q7 lines. It's also been home to the R8, but now the German automaker has moved supercar production to a new facility just a few miles down the road.
Back in August, Audi stopped production of the R8 at its main Neckarsulm site and moved it to the new Böllinger Höfe site in Heilbronn, restarting production just three weeks later. The new assembly line brings together various workshops that had been scattered about the Neckarsulm complex under one roof, and will surely make production of the next-generation R8 that much smoother.
The Böllinger Höfe facility is about a quarter the size of the main Neckarsulm plant, and will also house a small-scale production line - similar, we gather, to what Audi subsidiary Lamborghini recently built in Sant'Agata Bolognese - and a massive, state-of-the-art logistics center with capable of handling 4,500 containers each day.